Barrel handling machinery



Jan. 16, 1934.

A. HOEFFLEUR' BARREL HANDLING MACHINERY Filed May 25} 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 lnuenjfri floeffleur By BML Jan. 16, 1934. A. HOEFFLEUR BARREL HANDLING MACHINERY 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 25, 19 31 oeffleur I BE! B ML Jan} 16, 1934. A. HOEFFLEUR- 1,943,530

.B'ARREL'HANDLING MACHINERY Filed May 25. 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 Inc/3W \flrihur Hoefileur Patented Jan. 16, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT? OFFICE BARREL HANDLING MACHINERY poration of Indiana Application May 25, 1931. Serial No. 539,825

8Claims.

This invention relates to a mechanism for handling containers or barrels whereby the containers may be taken from one conveyor, automatically turned from one axial position to another and'placed upon a second conveyor in the axial position to which they have been turned.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a mechanism whereby a container, disposed in one axial position such as a horizontal rolling 1 axis position on a conveyor, may be turned from such position automatically and automatically placed in another position, such as on-end, on a second conveyor.

Another object is to provide a simple, cheap and efficient mechanism that will be operated, upon receipt of the container to the barrel tipper.

The invention may be used satisfactorily in connection with any type of container, but it is particularly adapted for handling cylindrical con- 2 tainers such as barrels. For the purposepf convenience, the hereinafter disclosure will be made with reference to barrels and a barrel handling system. Obviously this is not to be considered as a limitation upon the scope of the invention.

Further objects and advantages of the barrel handling system will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 isa top plan view of the same, showing a gravity'conveyor and a power driven conveyor in their relation to the barrel tipper.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the mechanism illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, showing the saddle for the containers and rotatable arms, or windmill, that rotates between the saddle.

Figure 4 is a sectional detail of the clutch and driving mechanism.

Figure 5 is a section along the line VV.

Figure 6 is a section taken along the line VI- VI of Figure 4, showing the beveled recesses.

Briefly, the barrel tipper comprises a longitudinal or bed-like frame construction with a chain conveyor disposed in the center thereof and operating lengthwise of the bed. A- revolvable windmill tipper is mounted upon the bed so that it straddles the conveyor and is adapted to engage the barrel that is disposed upon a saddle mounted on the frame structure. The windmill automatically turns the barrel to an up-end position and places it upon the conveyor that operates between the arms of the windmill. A suitable driving and clutch mechanism is provided for operating the windmill in a predetermined time relationship to the receipt of the barrels and intermittently rotating the windmill through an angle of 90.

A suitable foundation member 1 supports six standards 2 and 3 (see Figures 1 and 3). A frame member 4 is mounted at the top of the standards 2 and extends parallel with the foundation member 1. The standards as shown at 3 not only serve to support the frame member 4, as shown at 4a, but extend above the frame member 4 and 5 form the support for the bumper 5. A saddle, composed of two members 6 and supported by standards '7, is mounted upon the frame member 4 and extends parallel with said supporting members. This saddle is adapted to receive the barrels in a horizontal position as they are dischargedonto the barrel tipper.

A revolvable windmill tipper, or cradle, is mounted in the bearings 8 supported by the frame members 4. The windmill consists of four pairs of tipping arms 9 at right angles to each other and rigidly fastened and braced, by braces 10, to the axle shaft 11. The arms of the windmill are adapted to rotate between the frame members 4 and saddle 6. As the arms pass between the sadso dle they engage the barrel 12 (shown in Figure 3) which is disposed in a horizontal position upon the saddle, and turn it through an angle of 90 to an up-end position. The barrel is then placed upon the chain conveyor under the windmill and is carried away. v

A chain conveyor is disposed between the supporting members 4, and extends under the windmill and lengthwise of the barrel tipper. The

chains 13 of the conveyor are trained over the sprockets 14 and 15 which are in turn keyed to the shafts 16 and 17 respectively. The conveyor is driven from the shaft 1'7 by a sprocket 18 which receives its power from any suitable source, but preferably from the same prime mover that drives the windmill. The shafts 16 and 17 rest in the bearings 19 and 20 respectively, said bearings being rigidly fastened to the conveyor frame 4. The conveyor frame 4 is supported at the discharge end by a standard 21. Mounted upon the conveyor frame, and rigidly fastened thereto, are two guide plates 22 that extend along each side of the conveyor chains 13 (see Figure 2) and prevent the barrels from falling oil. the chains as they are carried therealong.

Figure 2 shows a prime mover, which may be a motor 23 mounted upon a suitable bracket 24, that continuously drives the gears 25, 26 and sprocket 27 through a reducing gear box 28 by the shaft 28a. A chain 29 carries over the 110 sprockets 2'7 and 18 and drives the conveyor that passes under the windmill. The gear 26 is loosely mounted upon the shaft 30 between the collar 31 and collar clutch 32 and idles on the shaft when the clutch is in a neutral position. The collar 31 and collar clutch 32 are pinned or keyed to the shaft 30, and the shaft is mounted in the bearings 33. A bull gear 34 is keyed to the axle shaft 11 of the windmill, and it meshes with the gear 35 that is rigidly keyed to the shaft 30. When the collar clutch 32 is thrown in gear the motor will rotate the windmill by operating through the series of gears 25, 26, 35 and 34.

A clutch mechanism, as shown in Figure 4, is provided for engaging and disengaging the source of power with the shaft 30. The gear 26 is provided with a boss 36, in the outer face of which and concentrically disposed with respect to the axis of the shaft 30 is a plurality of recesses, as shown at 37 of Figure 6. The collar clutch 32 is disposed between the boss 36 and gear 35. The

collar clutch not only serves to hold the gear 26' in place, but also provides a housing for a clutch element 38 (see Figure 4) disposed within a recess in the collar and normally urged toward the boss 36 by the influence of a spring 39. The tooth 40 on the clutch element 38 is adapted to engage with any one of the recesses 37 as they rotate to the proper position. A dog 41, to be described hereinafter, is adapted for disengaging the tooth 40 from the recess 37. One side of each recess may be beveled down, as shown at 42 of Figure 6, to aid the clutch element to engage therewith.

A U shaped trip lever 43, disposed between the saddle members 6 and projecting into the path of a barrel when received thereon, is rigidly attached to the rod 44 mounted in the bearings 45. Midway of the rod 44 and rigidly attached thereto is a clutch lever 46, the free end of -which is provided with a dog 41. The dog is provided with a wedge-shaped head which enables it to pass into the slot 47 in the underside of the clutch element 38, and thereby retracts the tooth 40 from the recesses 37 and permits the gear 26 to idle on the shaft 30. The U shaped lever 43 and clutch lever 46 are normally pulled in a counter clock-wise direction by the counterbalance 48 attached to the shaft 44 by the arm 49.

The collar 31 not only serves to hold the gear 26 in position, but serves as a brake drum for the brake band 50 that encircles the collar. The brake band is held in position by a brake rod 51 which is rigidly secured to the frame as shown at 52. The brake band 50 is adjustable through the medium of a bolt 53, a spring 54 and a nut 55 so that any desired tension may be put upon the collar or brake drum. Sufficient tension is applied to the brake band to kill the momentum of the moving parts when the clutch is thrown to a neutral position.

The housing for the driving mechanism may be supported by the frame members 56 and 5'7, also the housing frame may be used to support 5 the bumper 5 or any other means that may be used to aid in absorbing the jar of the barrels as they are discharged into the saddle.

Adjacent the receiving side of the tipping machine, standards 58 support a track or conveyor 59. The present embodiment of the invention shows a curved track, but any mechanism may be used for placing the barrels on the saddle.

When the barrel is rolled or placed upon the saddle in a horizontal axial position, its weight depresses the U shaped lever 43 which in turn depresses the clutch lever 46 and disengages the dog 41 from the clutch element 38, thereby permitting the spring 39 (see Figure 4) to urge the tooth 40 toward the boss 36 and into one of the recesses 37. This operation clutches the shaft 30 to the gear 26, whereupon the power from the motor 23 is transmitted through the gears 25, 26 and 35 to the bull gear 34, and thereby rotates the windmill tipper in a clockwise direction, viewing Figure 1, through an angle of 90. As the windmill rotates, the barrel firmly rests between two pairs of arms that are at right angles to each other, until the barrel is intercepted by the conveyor that carries it away in an up-ended position to some suitable handling means or conveyor as shown at 60. The driving mechanism and connections are arranged so that one complete revolution of the shaft 30, or the collar clutch 32, will rotate the bull gear 34 one-quarter of a revolution and thereby turn the windmill through a 90 angle. When the collar clutch 32 has made one complete revolution the dog 41 will pass into the slot 47 and withdraw the clutch element, that is, the tooth 40 from the slot 37. A portion of the'collar clutch 32 is cut away, as shown at 61, to enable the knife edge of the dog 41 to easily ride into the slot 47 oi the clutch element 38 as the collar clutch rotates in a clockwise direction, viewing Figure 5. The tension of the brake band 50 then becomes sufliciently effective to overcome the inertia of the moving parts, and stops and holds the windmill in its proper position so that the next barrel may be received thereon.

It should be appreciated that this mechanism has proved very satisfactory for handling ten to twelvebarrels or similar containers per minute, and eliminates a considerable amount of manual labor which would otherwise be necessary. Also, the barrels may be moved onto the saddle in a time relationship, the tipping machine may be set to operate in a predetermined time relationship to the receipt of the barrels and may be coordinated with a chain conveyor to dispose the barrels thereon in a predetermined timed or spaced relation to one another.

While I have illustrated and "described a preferred embodiment of the invention, changes and modifications could be made without departing from the spirit of the herein described invention. 125

The term rotatable is used-throughout the specification to describe a rotation in one direction for a complete cycle of operation, as distinguished from areciprocating motion for a complete cycle of operation.

I claim:

1. A machine for changing the axial position of cylindrical containers from one position to another which comprises, a frame, a saddle mounted upon said frame, and an intermittently 135 rotatable means operative upon receipt of the containers to the saddle for removing the containers from the saddle, changing their axial position, and placing them upon a conveyor means, the saddle comprising means to engage the pe- 140 riphery of the container and stationarily support the container at opposite sides of the rotatable means and in the path of the rotatable means.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, an intermittently rotatable barrel tipper, a conveyor 145 for leading barrels to said tipper, a second conveyor for conveying barrels from said tipper, means for positioning a barrel in the path of said tipper, means for driving said tipper, a clutch for rendering said driving means operative or inoperative, means actuated by said positioning. of

said barrel to actuate said clutch, and means for returning said clutch to its first position when the tipper has rotated from one conveyor to the other conveyor, whereby the driving mechanism is disengaged.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, an intermittently rotatable barrel tipper, a driving mechanism for rotating said barrel tipper, a clutch for engaging and disengaging said driving means with said barrel tipper, means for position ing a barrel in the path of said barrel tipper, means actuated by the positioning of said barrel for operating said clutch, whereby said barrel is rotated to another conveyor, means for retracting said clutch when the barrel tipper has rotated to position the barrel on said other conveyor, and means for retarding the motion of the barrel tipper after said clutch has been retracted.

4. In apparatus of the class described, a support, a rotatable shaft mounted on said support,

four pairs of spaced radial arms fixed to said shaft at equal spaced relation, a means for supporting a barrel in the path of a pair of said radial arms, a prime mover, normally inoperative means for connecting said prime mover with said rotatable shaft, a means positioned intermediate the radial arms and operated by receipt of a container disposed on said means for supporting a barrel in the path of the radial arms for rendering said normally inoperative means operative.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, a support, a rotatable shaft, a plurality of spaced pairs of radial arms fixed to said shaft, a saddle for supporting a barrel in the path of a pair of said radial arms, a prime mover, normally inoperative means for connecting said prime mover with the rotatable shaft for turning said rotatable shaft through substantially a right angle, a

means positioned intermediate said saddle and operated by a container disposed on said saddle whereby said normally inoperative means is rendered operative.

6. A barrel tipping machine comprising an intermittently rotatable barrel tipper, a conveyor for leading barrels to said tipper, a second conveyor for conveying barrels from said tipper, means for positioning a barrel in the path of said tipper, means for driving said tipper, a clutch for rendering said driving means operative or inoperative, meansactuated by said positioning of a barrel to operate said clutch, means for returning said clutch to its inoperative position by the time the tipper has rotated through a predetermined angle.

'7. A barrel tipping machine comprising an intermittently rotatable barrel tipper, a conveyor means for leading barrels to said tipper, a means for positioning a barrel in the path of said tipper, a prime mover, a clutch between said prime mover and barrel tipper, a means normally holding said clutch inoperative, means automatically operative on receipt of a barrel upon said means ;or positioning a barrel in the path of said tipper 100 or rendering said holding means inoperative.

8, In an apparatus of the class described, an intermittently rotatable barrel tipper, a conveyor for leading barrels to said tipper, a second conveyor for conveying barrels from said tipper, 105 means for positioning a barrel in the path of said tipper, means for driving said tipper, a clutch for rendering said driving means operative or inoperative, means actuated by said positioning of said barrel to render said clutch operative, a 110 means for returning said clutch to its inoperative position when the tipper has rotated through an angle of substantially 90.

ARTHUR HOEFFLEUR. 

